Love Undercover Star Jamie O'Hara Talks Awkwardness of Not Getting a Date At First
The soccer stars of Peacock's Love Undercover had a tough time shedding their famous personas to find love in the United States.
International soccer stars are looking for “true love” in L.A., but they might’ve gotten more than what they bargained for.
The five players featured in Peacock's new dating show Love Undercover include Jamie O’Hara, Ryan Babel, Lloyd Jones, Marco Fabián, and Sebastián Fassi.
The dating show wastes no time trying to spur romantic connections. The first batch of ladies are welcomed by large pictures of the men, laid out similar to a dating app profile, and then asked to select who’d they like to go on a first date with. The men are also watching the women decide from another room while a camera captures their candid, and sometimes humbling, takes.
Love Undercover’s Jamie O’Hara On the Awkward Moment he Almost Left the Show
The process made for some awkward dynamics between the soccer players and the women. For instance, Jones was picked by three different women for a first date in the first episode, leaving a lot to be desired for the others.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve had enough,” O’Hara said what was going through his mind during the experience. “It was really, it was a disaster, like it was hard work.”
O’Hara is a former English footballer turned successful radio host. His undercover career on the show was an ad salesman.
“I’m not used to that,” O’Hara said about the difficulty of the ladies not knowing what he really does for a living. “It was good to see, you know, trying to use your personality to find true love, but actually, it’s also nice for people to know who the f-ck you are, you know, like it’s nice to walk in a room and people know ‘cause it kind of answers lots of questions before you even have to go and speak to them.”
As he pointed out, he is the oldest of the cast and is now a retired footballer.
“I’m sat there with my dad body, you know, and these guys are all still ripped,” O’Hara said, exasperated. “They’ve got six packs, you know, they’ve got shiny teeth. Lloyd’s 6’2. Sebastian looks like Enrique Iglesias.”
He wanted to leave the show at one point because of the rejections, O’Hara said, which made Fabián chuckle in response.
“I’ve got these hot women walking into the bar, and I’m like — I’ve got to go up there and try to talk to them and I’m like they don’t care what comes out of my mouth,” O’Hara added. “They do not care because all they’re looking at is Lloyd and f---king Sebastian, so what’s the point of me being here?”
O’Hara eventually snags some dates but admits during the process his “head was falling off.”
“I can’t compete against these guys, but I’ve got a good personality, but if you’re asking me to stand here and try and compete with these guys in terms of looks, I’ve got f-cking no chance.”
Are the Love Undercover Cast Friends in Real Life?
The group of soccer players will be friends for life after filming together, Fassi said about the “life changing” experience.
“We are usually used to work with pressure, but he struggle with this was a whole different kind of pressure,” Fassi said. “Then getting to know the boys was something unique for me. I think that we bonded.”
They bonded so quickly because they all come from a similar environment of playing soccer professionally, Fassi theorized.
“We know what a locker room is, so they’re like kind of invisible codes with the footballers and things that you put first,” Fassi said about their easy camaraderie.
One rule teammates tend to follow is never fighting with a teammate over a girl, Fassi said.
“We got along so well and we bonded so hard because of those codes that we had without even knowing each other, you know?” Fassi said, adding it helped make the show so fun. “That made the show I think beautiful for me because we were also cheering for each other. We were also helping each other out.”
Catch Love Undercover only on Peacock.
